The end of CultureSurfer.com?

As all of you know, I've been struggling with the site for 14 months now. The additional stress of Brightcove pulling their free players as of December 17th has made a stressful situation unbearable.

I began this project as a way to work for myself, to express myself, to create something to contribute to the world. But it has turned into a nightmare. Although I have received encouragement from my friends at Opera (and am very grateful for this) as well as bits & pieces of support elsewhere, I have received virtually no encouragement here in St. Louis, the city that I promote on the site. Nor have I been able to find an investor willing to sustain the site. Numerous attempts at obtaining grants have also failed.

I have spent the past month researching new videos players, thought I had found one, but now cannot use that one due to the lack of comprehensible instructions on the site & lack of timely customer service. I also tried a slightly more advanced version of the software I use to build a new and improved site but that has also turned into a fiasco because it's too advanced for me to understand. And I can't find any information online or in a book to help me understand.

Even if I could overcome all of these technological obstacles I have to ask myself, why create something like this if I receive so little in return? Why should I work this hard & not be rewarded financially? Moreover, I have a creative mind, not a business mind. Without a business partner, I don't see the site making any money for me.

Everyone knows me as a very, very persistent person. But this has come to the point where it is doing real damage to me, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. I believe there I have crossed the line from persistence into stupidity. Nothing, not ambition, nor the need to create, nor the desire for recognition, is worth the cost that I have now paid.

I still have not made my final decision, but I am leaning in the direction of letting go of the site. I would rather overcome the disappointment and shame of failure than continue to work in vain like this. After all, if I am not happy, then what's the point?

Escape from your relatives with CultureSurfer.com

Painting by Eric Albers.

ART
Eric Albers-Eric's creations look like something out of Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas." This guy is seriously talented & seriously humble. I LOVE his work!

Glass Pull-This is totally cool. Watch glass artists compete in a contest to see who can pull liquid glass the longest distance without breaking it.

FASHION/BEAUTY
The Dillard's Show-Part 3-More cool fashion trends for Fall.

Navan-Learn about this vanilla liqueur at the PrettyCity.com event held at Mandarin Lounge.

MUSIC
Dare For Distance-By the adorable Never Shout Never at the 2nd annual PlaySTL Indie music festival. How can you resist this kid?

CYCLING
Richard England-The Team Bissell rider talks about his final race with Team Bissell.

Attempting to Return to Sanity

It's been an interesting past two weeks here at CultureSurfer.com HQ. Since Brightcove announced that they are no longer going to provide my video players for free, I've been searching and searching all over the internet for a good replacement. The players now cost a mininum of $6,000 per year. Yikes!

Life as a web mistress has been just a bit stressful. I've come up with two possible solutions, neither of which is ideal. Bliptv.com is the easiest solution, but that would mean visitors would no longer be able to link to the videos on my site. But the upside of Bliptv is that they will host all of my videos & I'll have stats on how many times each video has been watched.

The other possibility is to embed my very own players in the site. The best one I've found so far is from WebStunning.com. It's a pretty cool player, but I am not sure if I will get stats on it & there is no way to add descriptions or tags to the videos. This leads to the question of how searchable the videos would be by search engines, which I absolutely need.

I seem to be stuck in between a rock and a hard place.

And both of these players entail yet another (OMG!!!!!)site redesign. Yup. that's gonna be something like number 8 (I have to check) in 14 months. Here's why: I can't find a good player that I like which has channels on it. I will have to create a separate player for each channel on the site. We're talking something like 50 players.

Fun times ahead. But one very good piece of news. We should have about 10,000 visitors on the site this month. w00t!

New CultureSurfer videos for November 17, 2008

"Insight" by St. Louis artist Liz Steltzer

FASHION & BEAUTY
http://culturesurfer.com/Fashion.htm

The Guys-For all of you Dino fans out there(the model with the long hair), here's your chance to meet him.

The Dillard's Show-Part Two

R Bath & Body-Wendy & her husband have launched this business together & their products smell amazing. Seriously!

MUSIC
http://culturesurfer.com/Music.htm
Back Porch byCharlz Newman (combo of two of the band member's names)-This indie band is out of Minneapolis and is seriously good. We filmed them at the PlaySTL fest back in September.

ART
http://culturesurfer.com/Art.htm
Liz Steltzer-Liz is a very talented artist, super cool & smart lady, & she used to play pro softball. This is her interview from last month's Jack The Ripper art show.

The 17th Annual St. Louis International Film Festival

This unbelievably huge, exciting, and exhausting film festival starts tonight, with Humboldt County opening the festival at the Tivoli Theater. The directors will be there & there will be a bunch of super excited film addicts who show up every year for this event. I think there are something like 275
:yikes: films being shown in 10 days, including the shorts. There are indie films, foreign films, and documentaries. Numerous sidebars (basically mini festivals) include:

AFI PROJECT: 20/20
African/African-American Sidebar
Animation Sidebar
A sampling of classic cinematic works.
Art and Music Sidebar
Asian Sidebar
Cinema for Students
Eastern European Sidebar
Environmental Sidebar
Family Sidebar
Film Noir Sidebar
FilmTracker New Filmmakers Forum
French Sidebar
Global Lens 2008
Indie-Fest
Interfaith Sidebar

I went through the schedule & narrowed it down to 24 movies, but of course I'll only be able to make a fraction of those movies. My goal is to film 12 directors (q&a sessions or interviews), so that I can upload one director interview per month until the next film festival. We're giving Dan, our photographer, our 2nd video camera so that we can split up & hopefully cover more directors.

For someone like me who has loved movies since they became such a huge part of my life back in high school, this is like putting me in a chocolate store & giving me free reign.

New CultureSurfer videos for November 10, 2008

Yup, CultureSurfer is delving into that girlie (mostly) world of beauty. There are those who will argue that beauty, like fashion, is not culture. I beg to differ. Or I would beg to differ if it weren't my site. But since it is my site, I can do whatever I want.

BEAUTY
Pretty Sweet-the beauty bash put on by PrettyCity.com at Mandarin Lounge in St. Louis.

Mineral-based Makeup-Jackie from Jon Tomas salon talks about using mineral-based makeup at Pretty Sweet, the beauty bash put on by PrettyCity.com at Mandarin Lounge in St. Louis.


FASHION
The Dillard’s Show-Part One-At Saint Louis Fashion Week, Fall 2008

ART
Dallas Moses-curator of Jack’s Art Show at the Koken Art Factory

CYCLING
Cyclocross at Creve Coeur Lake-1-See Dan Elavsky’s beautiful photos put to music.

New videos for Nov. 3, 2008 on CultureSurfer.com

FASHION

Silver Dagger-at Saint Louis Fashion Week, Fall 2008

Traditional Filipino Fashion-At the fall Asian Couture & Cultural Event at Mandarin.

ART

Sara Parry-artist/adorable bloody bride at Jack’s Show at the Koken Art Factory

INDIE MUSIC

Here-by Elleven

CYCLING

4K To Go-The approach into St. Charles at the 2^nd Annual Tour of Missouri, filmed from the Team Bissell car by Dan Elavsky.

Glen Mitchell-Director of Team Bissell

DANCE

Fire Dance, Part 2-Pandora’s Matchbox performs at Third Degree Glass Factory

Give me my Loop back!

I had recently heard rumblings of increased crime in the U. City Loop. A teenager was shot during an argument back in August. A store that stocks very expensive jeans had recently been held up. It worried & angered me, but I didn't really think that much. I've been having plenty of anxiety over who we're about to elect as our new president, trying to get a web site off the ground in a bad economy, hearing about health problems of various friends, etc.

Friday night, my husband and I went to our beloved Tivoli Theater in the Loop to see "Rachel Getting Married." We left the theater at about 9:30, walked back to our car, & hit our favorite Mexican restaurant before going home.

Last night (Saturday night) we went to have dinner with some friends in front of a St. Louis institution, Blueberry Hill. Our friend mentioned there had been a police officer shot & killed Friday night in the Loop. We talked about it & then went back to discussing various things, particularly politics, as the husband of this couple & I are both political junkies. Then we went home.

I woke up this morning & turned on the Today Show. They broke for a local news update. I actually listened for once as I wanted to know more about the murder of the police officer.

It turns out he was a friend of mine. His name was Mike King. I hadn't seen him for years, I just hadn't run into him. I first met him around 10 years ago when I was the neighborhood liaison to the police department for updating the neighborhood on crime in our area. I think he also may have helped me out when we had major problems with some neighbors that finally moved away.

Mike was a great guy. He was really sweet & friendly. He didn't have that hard outer exterior that many cops (understandably) have.

Mike was murdered Friday night for no reason at all. He was sitting in his police car right in front of Starbucks, right where we had walked 30 minutes prior to get back to our car. We may have even walked past his patrol car & not even noticed him because there is always a police car parked in that spot.

The scum who killed him was a convicted drug dealer, apparently well-known by the police department. He just walked up to Mike's car & shot & killed him. They're still looking for the bastard as of this writing.

I can't even begin to express the sadness & anger I am feeling right now. For Mike's wife, for Mike's family & friends, for the U. City Police Department, for my community, for myself. Mike was only 50.

The Loop is where I go to relax and feel grounded. When I need to get myself away from work (since I work at home) I go to the library where I first learned how to read at the triangle table. I used to get my new shoes at the beginning of each school year at Lasky's, which was a mainstay of the area for years. The guys at the produce market know they can expect to see me almost every week. I've been going to the Tivoli theater since I can't even remember. Back when the floors were perpetually sticky, the a/c & heating were undependable, & I watched double features of almost every cult classic that was made in the early 80's.

This is where I most feel like me. Where I go when I feel lost & need to find my footing. This is where I go, above all, to feel safe.

And now thugs have taken over my neighborhood.

Amazing painting of Barack Obama

By St. Louis artist Cbabi Bayoc
Cbabi on MySpace

New CultureSurfer videos for the week of October 27, 2008

Yup, we're still bringing you more fashion videos from Fashion Week but we're switching gears a bit to bring you some very whacky art videos. Apparently, the St. Louis art community gets even more creative than usual this time of year & puts on events like Jack's Art Show (as in Jack the Ripper, how funny & sick is that?-lol) and Art Attack, a fundraiser at which the audience decides how to destroy the pieces of art that don't win the auction. I must say that I have never, ever had so much fun at at art opening as I did at Jack's Show. You may notice that I was giggling a bit in this video and no, I was not drunk! I was just letting loose; no alcohol was involved.Really.

FASHION
Pics of the Meghan Fabulous Runway Show

Meghan Fabulous Runway Show-At the 2008 Saint Louis Fall Fashion Week (Check out the designer whose looks are worn by celebrities like Sharon Stone & Paris Hilton.)

Meghan Fabulous Interview-At the 2008 Saint Louis Fall Fashion Week

DANCE
Fire Dance-Part One-performed by Pandora’s Matchbox at Third Degree Glass Company

ART
Jack’s Show-The Jack the Ripper Art Show at the Koken Art Factory in St. Louis

Jeremy Hendry-interview with the artist at the February 2008 Art Coop opening

CYCLING
MTB Pro race-Spanish Lake-October, 2008

Team Symmetrics Interview-at the 2nd Annual Tour of MO pro cycling race

POLITICS
Missouri Politicians at Bosnian Festival Speak Up for Obama

CultureSurfer videos-October 20, 2008

Saint Louis Fashion Week, Fall 2008
Fashion Week was great to film this time. We filmed fewer shows so we were less exhausted than after we filmed in May, but we still came out with 15 videos. We've got some interesting behind the scenes interviews & were able to film a good variety of runway shows. You'll see St. Louis designer, Skif, who made the sweaters worn in "The Matrix," as well as some very cool fashions from designers in LA (Meghan Fabulous & Silver Dagger). We've also got some urban/street fashion by hip hop artist Nelly (St. Louis native, grew up right near me in U. City, but he's just a bit younger than me) and another line by another rap artist out of U. City, Murphy Lee. We'll be uploading the Fall Fashion videos through December.

Skif International Runway Show-The St. Louis-based designer with her innovative knits

Lipstick Touch Up-interview with a makeup artist backstage at the fashion show

Music
Me He Enamorado/I've Fallen In Love-performed by St. Louis sensation Javier Mendoza at Brandt's Restaurant in the U. City Loop.

Bosnian Music with Edo Sadikovic-Part One-At the Bosnian & Herzegovian Festival in St. Louis

Dance
Traditional Indian Dance-Part One-at the South Asian Heritage Fair in St. Charles, Missouri.

Cycling
On The Radio-footage from the team Bissell car at the 2nd Annual Tour of Missouri, Stage 6.

MTB Spanish Lake-Part One-2008 Missouri Mountain Bike series in Spanish Lake, Missouri. Sport, Endurance, & Women's races.

Politics
Swiss Television in St. Louis-Esther Mamarbachi & Hubert Gay-Couttet from tsr.ch tv talk about their experience in St. Louis, talking to all sorts of people about the Presidential election.

Skif International Runway Pics

Check out St. Louis-based Skif International's latest designs at Saint Louis Fashion Week, Fall 2008.

"With more than 15 years in the knit biz, Nina Ganci and company specialize in dressing men, women and children in unique, avant-garde sweaters. Probably best known for outfitting Keanu Reeves and Samuel L. Jackson in The Matrix movies, their one-of-a-kind pieces are created in the Spielberg Furniture building located in St. Louis’ The Hill. Ever-evolving, Skif clothing is consistently classic and comfortable, yet cutting-edge and unpredictable."
-from www.saintlouisfashionweek.com

New CultureSurfer.com videos for the week of Oct. 13, 2008

FASHION

Karlie Kloss, supermodel-Interview with Karlie at the Spring 2008 St. Louis Fashion Week
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243698182/bclid1838521739/bctid1854842626

Macy's Runway Show-at the Spring 2008 St. Louis Fashion Week
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243698182/bclid1838521739/bctid1851168941

MUSIC
Rumba De Azul-flamenco guitar with Lliam Christy & Los Flamencos at Sol Lounge in St. Louis.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1244719052/bclid1256260578/bctid1854859055

Sevdah Music-Part 1 at the 5^th Annual St. Louis Bosnian & Herzegovian Festival
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1256280098/bclid1847307898/bctid1851181920

CYCLING
Team Dogfish Interview at the St. Louis Gateway Cup
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1213893947/bclid1764764644/bctid1851181926

Chad Hartley, rider with Jittery Joe’s Cycling at the St. Louis Gateway Cup
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1213893947/bclid1764764644/bctid1854842330

Pursuing the Peloton-from the Bissell Team car with the “Dan cam” at the 2^nd annual Tour of Missouri
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1213893947/bclid1815835776/bctid1851181940

New CultureSurfer videos for September 6, 2008

Cycling:
Christian Vande Velde (team Garmin-Chipotle), overall of the 2nd annual Tour of Missouri pro cycling race, takes the yellow jersey for Stage 6. Christian is near and dear to the hearts of Missouri cyclists because he is from nearby Lemont, Il & is not only a very talented cyclist but also a good guy. Christian cycled for the US team at last summer’s Beijing Olympics.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1213893947/bclid1815835776/bctid1840617447

Christian Vande Velde (team Garmin-Chipotle) talks at the press conference after Stage 6 of the 2nd annual Tour of Missouri in St. Charles, Missouri.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1213893947/bclid1815835776/bctid1838510592

Dogfish Apparell owner, John Merli
My interview with John Merli, owner of Dogfish Apparell, home to Dogfish racing as well. John (also known as Old Man Merli) is a former racer & now his son, John Jr., races, as well as John’s daughter-in-law. This is a very cool, very green family business. Check out what John says about making t-shirts from recycled soda bottles and bamboo:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1213893947/bclid1815835776/bctid1840617461

Indie Music:
Check out the very young & very adorable Never Shout Never from Rolla, Missouri at the 2nd annual PlaySTL indie music festival.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1256280098/bclid1825726867/bctid1840617434

Fashion:
Lori Coulter hails from St. Louis & is proof that yes, we do actually have a thriving fashion industry here. Here is her swimsuit show from last Spring’s Saint Louis Fashion Week at Lumiere Casino:
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243698182/bclid1838521739/bctid1840617440

My interview with Lori Coulture, designer of made to fit (like a glove!) swimwear. She rocks for figuring out a way (using a computer that scans your body in 12 seconds) women can stop struggling to find a swimming suit that actually looks good on them!
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1243698182/bclid1838521739/bctid1838472028

Technorati Profile

New CultureSurfer videos for September 22-29, 2008

Why so many bike videos? The 2008 cyclng season is winding down, so this is when things heat up cycling-wise in St. Louis. We do plan to film some cyclocross soon, though, until it gets too cold to hold onto the camera-lol.

For you bike geeks out there, check out some of the approximately 15 videos we shot at the St. Louis Gateway Cup at the end of August. This is one of the top cycling races (4 day-long event) in the midwest, featuring some of St. Louis's coolest neighborhoods (including my crib, the U. City Loop).





The ladies of Team Revolution are so cool & are truly revolutionaries. As far as I know, they are the only women's pro (also amateur) team in St. Louis. Women's cycling is not getting the attention it deserves.




More for bike geeks... the 2nd annual Tour of Missouri pro cycling race, one of the 3 top cycling races in the US.



And lastly for the beloved bike geeks out there, our buddy & CultureSurfer photographer Dan Elavsky (this guy did an internship with a Sports Illustrated photographer!), got to ride along with Team Bissell. Dan did a great job alternating between 2 still cameras & our video camera to capture the following footage from the "Dan Cam."



Can you believe I am still uploading fashion videos from the Spring? I'm rushing to get the final ones online because the next St. Louis Fashion Week starts October 6th & we'll be there filming again.



Check out these 2 videos of traditional Indian dance that we filmed at the South Asian Heritage Fair in St. Louis. In case you're wondering Meghanna, in the purple, is only 8 or 9 years old.


For Indie music lovers, we filmed a little at the 2nd annual PlaySTL Fest. Check out Otter Petter's (Love that name!) "Rest of the World."


Finally, my friend Stan Chisolm, an extremely talented artist (onlu 22!!), a student at the Chicago Art Institute and native of St. Louis, brought some art and some of the artists he knows from Chicago for this fun opening.

YouTube Break Out Artist David Sides

Watch David's videos

I hate to risk overuse of the word "phenomenon", but that's what David is. There are incredible numbers of extremely talented musicians on YouTube, but their videos aren't receiving millions of views like David's. These musicians have music videos that have been professionally produced, and they will never see such high numbers. So what is it about this guy?

David has somehow tapped into something we want, something we need. It hit me the minute I watched his video "Apologize." I almost cried. And I had the same response the second time I watched the video. David plays with incredible emotion that would be palpable to just about anyone. Apparently, millions of us need something to help us express some of the passion, sadness,longing,love that you feel when you hear him play.

It's mesmerizing to watch him play in person. Most of the time, his eyes are closed and he throws his entire essence into his playing. He is in another world. And he's only 23. And relatively untrained. He holds a degree in musicology, but he began to teach himself how to play when he was 10 & has received very little formal training.

So far, David's fame is pretty much restricted to YouTube. But I can't imagine it will remain so for much longer.

Watch David's interview & music video on CultureSurfer.com.

Super-cool, hip-hop, rock star David.


Sensitive, sweet, intense David.

St. Louis Fashion Week, Spring 2008

St. Louis Fashion Week videos

Here are two pics that Jeff took of me with 2 of the 10 or so designers that I interviewed. Fashion shows remind me of political campaigns from the standpoint of frenetic energy, so the still camera pretty much went by the wayside as we tried to just get the interviews filmed so we could get home and go to bed. On Thursdsay night, there were THIRTEEN designers, so the show ran from 9-1 in the morning. Jeff filmed the entire night (he deserves a medal for that) & I took notes on each and every designer during the show & then promptly forgot just about everything I had just seen.

Rochelle Rodriguez, a designer out of LA who designs very feminine, flowing dresses for women who actually have curves.
A video of Rochelle's designs and her interview are on CultureSurfer.com on the Fashion Page under PROJECT DESIGN.
Rochelle's site: http://www.rochellerodriguez.com/



LA designer Shay Wilson, creator of Kinetix Clothing (known for very cool graphic t-shirts). He's hot (used to be a model), hip (told me the term "urban" is out and "street" is in-lol),creative and WAY outside the box, very sweet, and the son of a minister (or preacher, can't remember the correct term). He is not Asian (Yes, I asked).
Shay's site: http://www.kxclothing.com/


Saint Louis Fashion Week site:
http://www.saintlouisfashionweek.com/

Buy A .tv Domain and Support the Island of Tuvalu

CultureSurfer.com is hosted by GoDaddy. I am basically happy with their service, other than having to deal with their not so user-friendly web site & having to look at Danica Patrick's photo day in and day out every time I log in to check my CultureSurfer e-mail. Their customer support boys are very nice & really do try to help.

So I called yesterday because we realized we'd better add CultureSurfer.tv to the other domains we now own to prevent squatters---sorry, I meant "domain resellers"--from snatching it and causing problems for us. But I was surprised when customer support boy rattled off the total for my purchase. I asked why it was so expensive. And he told me that Tuvalu OWNS the .tv domain. He jokingly said I could at least take solace in the fact that I was supporting a third-world country. Read on...

tv
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

.tv is the Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for the island nation of Tuvalu. Except for reserved names like .com.tv, .net.tv, .org.tv and others, any person in the world can register a .tv domain for a fee. In 2000, Tuvalu negotiated a contract leasing its Internet domain name ".tv" for $50 million in royalties over a 12-year period.[1] (READ FURTHER ABOUT HOW THIS FELL THROUGH, SO WHO IS GETTING THE CASH NOW???) The Tuvalu government receives a quarterly payment of US$1 million for use of the top-level domain. The domain name is popular, and thus economically valuable, because it is an abbreviation of the word 'television' (other similar ccTLDs are .fm, .am, .cd, and .dj). The domain is currently operated by dotTV, a VeriSign company. The Tuvalu government owns twenty percent of the company.
For a brief period after its creation, all domain names with the letters "AOL" in sequence even with completely random characters before and/or after it were blocked from being registered to prevent misidentification with AOL.

On December 14, 2006, VeriSign announced an alliance with Demand Media, run by ex-MySpace chairman Richard Rosenblatt to market the .tv Top Level Domain Name (TLD) as the preferred web address for rich media content.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.tv

Tuvalu (IPA: [t:u:'valu]), formerly known as the Ellice Islands, is a Polynesian island nation located in the Pacific Ocean midway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbours are Kiribati, Samoa and Fiji...

Tuvalu is a constitutional monarchy and Commonwealth Realm, with Queen Elizabeth II recognised as Queen of Tuvalu....

Tuvalu has almost no natural resources, and its main form of income consists of foreign aid...In 1998, Tuvalu began deriving revenue from use of its area code for "900" lines and from the sale of its ".tv" Internet domain name. In 2000, Tuvalu negotiated a contract leasing its Internet domain name ".tv" for $50 million in royalties. However, the Canadian entrepreneur who negotiated the deal, Jason Chapnik, was unable to raise the $50 million in the contracted time period, and the contract eventually fell into other hands...
The island population has more than doubled since 1980 and was estimated to reach 11,810 in July 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuvalu

Want to know more about the Tuvalu Islands? (Notice it's a .com, not a .tv. )
http://www.tuvaluislands.com/

Cool new stuff on CultureSurfer.com

Symbols of Kwanzaa & Ngoma Na Andamono (drum call & procession)
I went looking for a Kwanzaa celebration to film. Why? Because I knew nothing about Kwanzaa and, as I keep saying, I’m extremely curious. I found this Kwanzaa Celebration at the Saint Louis Art Museum & ended up filming an hour of videos. The whole performance was great, with drumming by the Moja Moyo and dancing by Spirit of Angela. Keep in mind that although all of the drumming and dance are traditional African music & dance, all of the participants are from right here in the St. Louis area. Apparently, much of the interest in these traditional African arts comes from late choreographer Katherine Dunham’s Katherine Dunham Centers for Arts and Humanities, located in the St. Louis area. More videos from this great performance coming throughout February & March on CultureSurfer.com.

Occult Spy, a short film
I found St. Louis dj Leon Lamont on the Critical Mass list-serve & found this short film he had made. I think it’s really creative, unique, funny, a little creepy, etc. Enjoy!

“My Land? Your Land?…”, a play
This piece was written & performed by teenagers from the city of St. Louis. This performance was part of the Democracy Now exhibit last summer at the Regional Arts Commission, curated by Michael Crane. The play was produced by STL Artworks & that Uppity Theatre Co. I was really moved by the message of the play, the fact that kids had come up with this content, & thought the performance by “grandma” was a blast.

John Rozelle, abstract artist
John is one of the four artists featured in the Saint Louis Art Museum’s “African Abstraction: St. Louis Connections” exhibit. John is not only a talented artist and a nice guy, but he is an imposing figure. The second I saw him, I knew I’d be craning my neck to look at him during the interview. (And yes, I was wearing boots with heels.) I thought John looked very cool in his black clothes, cowboy hat, shades, & earring. And I must not forget to mention that is travels to various African cultures have strongly influenced him, from the standpoints of African art as well as societies run by people with black skin.

Photos from Off The Wall At City Hall
With Art Dimensions, a totally cool non-profit arts organization in St. Louis. I love the fact that they do work with kids.

A Gaggle of New Videos on CultureSurfer.com

Check out the new videos at: http://culturesurfer.com

Improv Trick's Christmas Jam-Game One and Game Two
I met Bill Chott through my husband, Jeff, who started doing improv a few years ago. Bill studies at Second City.

Artist Chris Roberts-Antieau
Chris is a self-taught artist from Manchester, Michigan who makes very humorous and interesting pieces of art using pieces of fabric.

Lip Musician Yu Lun (Allen Lee) from Taiwan
Check out some pretty incredible whistling. Yu is currently living in Texas.

Flamenca music, song, & dance
Lliam Christy, Beth Steinbrenner, and Andrew John are all Americans. Llim and Beth are part of Los Flamencos. Lliam only began to study classical guitar 5 years ago. Before that, he played guitar for a St. Louis rock band.

Michael Henderson, producer of “Orangeburg”
Michael is a music producer who is about to go into the pre-production phase of his first film, “Orangeburg.” The film is about a police attack on blacks students who rioted in 1968 on a St. Carolina campus. This happened before Kent state & not many people know about it.

Because of You
Jenny McKay singing Kelly Clarkson’s “Because of You” at a wedding in Zurich.

Curator Andrew Walker
Andrew is the curator of American art at the St. Louis Art museum (as well as the assistant of curatorial affairs). He has curated a really unusual exhibit called “African American Abstraction: St. Louis Connections.”

French cycling pics
Mathieu Sirieix commented on the Tecos Car Footage I put on YouTube, I wrote him back, & it turns out he’s a French cycling fan. Mathieu lives in Limoges, home to the beautiful & expensive French china. Mathieu’s French cycling blog (on the Sports page of CultureSurfer.com).

Why Interviewing Is A Total Rush

Naomi interviewing one of her childhood idols, skater Dorothy Hamill

I just knocked off three interviews this morning at the Saint Louis Art Museum. These were not any run of the mill interviews because SLAM (the Saint Louis Art Museum) is one of the most admired institutions in St. Louis.

My interviews were with: the curator of American art, Andrew Walker; African-American abstract artist John Rozelle; African-American abstract artist Phillip Hampton.

So I find myself at this highly esteemed institution, where I have gone since I was a tiny, tiny, kid, & I am about to interview a curator. And two artists. Mind you, I know nothing about what a curator does. I know nothing about abstract art. Except that a curator curates art & abstract art is hard to figure out because it's abstract. Was I a bit stressed & nervous this morning? Absolutely.

Yet I feel that I am completely in my element when I am in situations like this. I love "cramming" before interviews, trying to read a little about my interview subject, their art (or whatever they do) and trying like crazy to remember everyone’s' names & titles. All of that happens before I even get to the interview.

Once I'm there, it's time to take notes if there's a talk, concert, whatever, so I get a few ideas of what to ask. Then, I have to quickly review the names, titles, and the questions I've just written down. Then, I step in front of the camera. That's where the real fun begins.

I shook like a leaf my first 4 months in front of the camera. I had to keep asking myself WHY I persisted in doing something that terrified me. But I'm happy I persevered. I love being in front of the camera. This is not because I love to see myself on film. I am so happy the video player on CultureSurfer is small & have so much sympathy for people who are on HDTV.

But it's so much fun to make a connection (as quickly as possible) with my interview subject, hopefully put him or her at ease (I can completely understand why people loathe media-many reporters are really nasty!), and come up with one really thought-provoking, unique, or funny question per interview, usually at the very end. I know I've got a good interview when I ask that final question & get a slight smile or actually get the response "No one has ever asked me that before." But then there are so many elements that are out of my control.

Like background noise. The gallery at the art museum was full of people talking this morning. And I mean it was loud. I had to ignore it. I've had water pour down on my head during an interview. Ignored it. I've had friends walk by & wave at me during interviews. I ignore it. Doors slam. I ignore the noise. I like to boast that if there were an earthquake during an interview, I'd keep going. (Hope I never get the chance to find out.) All of this is nerve-wracking, but it's the challenge to stay focused that I like.

And even if everything is going great, I have to watch my interview subject to make sure he/she isn't moving out of frame (this has happened), check to make sure the microphone switch is actually on (I've lost interivews due to the mic being off), keep track of the time, focus on what the person is saying, all while trying to come up with a new question if the person just answered a question I was going to ask, or just trying to remember what the next question was. And there are times when I totally, utterly blank out on the next question. I am not religious, but this is a time when I pray. And it works. Always. Even though sometimes it takes what seems like hours for the question to come back, it always comes back. So why do I love doing this?

I get to meet all kinds of fascinating, inspiring, talented, amazing people from all walks of life, from all parts of the world, that I'd not otherwise have the excuse to meet. My only regret about interviewing is that I'd like to spend more time with just about every person I meet. But then again, I do have my own life to lead.

New Videos for The Week of January 20, 2008

The Baghdad Ballet
John Fergusan of the American Voices Project has graciously given me the go ahead to post the organization’s videos on CultureSurfer. This is one of the many videos shot at the Unity Academy this past summer in Iraq. I hope these videos will break down some of your preconceptions of Iraq (this is what has happened to me). I found out about American Voices from Marc Thayer who does community outreach for the St. Louis Symphony. He took part in the Academy last summer & gave me a disc of photos he shot in Erbil, Iraq, where the Academy took place. Will let you know when I get the time to get his pics online.

Hand Jive
Also part of the Iraq Unity Academy. These kids are so cute! Love the shades.

I know You Know
I found the Gods of Blitz on someone’s MySpace page (can’t remember whom) and immediately fell in love with this song, that they gave me persmission to put on CultureSurfer. I guess I love it so much because it reminds me of the cool music I used to listen to in the 80’s. These guys are out of Berlin. Check out their video & let me know what you think.

Bryan Cunningham
Bryan was somewhat camera-shy, so that explains why this piece is a bit short. He is really sweet/hip/modest & a very talented, original artist. I filmed this video at the St. Louis Art Fair last summer, where Bryan won an awards. I believe Bryan lives in Michigan.

Impossible
Jenny McKay is not Irish but Swiss. She lives in Zurich where she attends college & is working on building up a singing career. I met Jen 4 years ago when she came to St. Louis to study English, back when I was still teaching. Jen is super bright (studying media now, I believe, & has a great command of English). She has a way of being very cute (she loves pink) but definitely has an edge to her. Thanks to messenger, we’ve remained close over the years & it’s been fun watching her “grow up.” I like to call her “Swiss Miss” after the hot chocolate & pudding brand.

John Sayles/Maggie Renzi
Director John Sayles and his life-partner, producer Maggie Renzi previewed their new movie “Honeydripper” during the 16^th Annual AT&T St. Louis International Film Festival. This is the 3^rd year I’ve been on the advisory board of the festival to help pull ethnic communities in to see the movies and, I must say, it was totally cool this year. I got to interview several directors right after having seen their movies.

John Sayles is absolutely huge for his age and I don’t mean in a World’s Biggest Loser way but in more of a Popeye kind of way. The guy does talk a lot but then again, he has a lot to talk about. Check out Parts One and Two of the conversation.

The interview with “Honeydripper” star Gary Clark, Jr. (he’s adorable, talented, & super tall) and the other director interviews as well as movie trailers can be found here. More director interviews coming online from the festival over the next few months.

Night Owl
I found Mark Forman via Twitter.com, checked out his site, & was given permission to take some of his interesting videos about his hometown of Taichung, Taiwan. He’s lived there over 20 years, so he’s got an interesting take on the culture.

Cyclist Danny Pate at the Stage 5 Press Conference of the Tour of Missouri
This is the last of about 40 videos we shot at the first annual Tour of Missouri pro cycling race back in September. This race is being taken seriously as one of the top 3 or 4 races in the US. Of interest to culture surfers will be the behind the scenes videos we shot of the Mexican team, team Tecos. The videos are bilingual & the Team Tecos car footage video has been a hit.

Watch all of the Tour of MO videos here.

THIS WEEK'S VIDEOS ON CULTURESURFER.COM

9 more new videos coming online tomorrow morning. More details Monday or Tuesday. stay tuned to www.culturesurfer.com

VIDEOS TO CHECK OUT

A Taste of Motown
http://tinyurl.com/29puv2

Maracas Man-Adorable kid at the Three Kings Celebration
http://tinyurl.com/25tc8b

Flatline-Punk from Bosnia
http://tinyurl.com/2yqdur

Turkish march-Taiwanese lip musician Allen Lee
http://tinyurl.com/2hegsm

Acrassicauda-heavy metal from Iraq
http://tinyurl.com/yo83zd

Jena 6-March to the Courthouse
http://tinyurl.com/2ydwvk

Jena-6-Speakers at the Courthouse-Part 1
http://tinyurl.com/25o7wt

Capoeira demo
http://tinyurl.com/yovwhq

Capoeira interview
http://tinyurl.com/2yu7ut